Strikes and your flight: who pays, and when

The wildcat strike: Krüsemann v TUIfly

In 2016 TUIfly announced a restructuring without warning, and sickness notifications among crew jumped from around 10 percent to as much as 89 percent over the following days. Cancellations cascaded, and the airline called the stoppage unofficial and outside its control.

The Court disagreed in April 2018: the stoppage originated in the carrier's own management decision, and staff responses to business decisions are among the normal risks of running an airline. That the walkout was unofficial changed nothing; the airline had itself resolved it through an agreement with staff representatives, which rather proved the point.

Krüsemann set the method for every strike case since: ask where the cause of the stoppage sits, not what label the stoppage wears. Rejection letters that lean on the word unofficial, or on the airline's surprise, are answering a question the Court has already declined to ask.

The lawful strike: Airhelp v SAS

SAS pilots struck for seven days in April 2019, in a lawful, union called action during collective bargaining, and thousands of flights were cancelled. SAS argued that a strike conducted in full compliance with national notice rules is imposed on the business from outside.

The Grand Chamber rejected that in March 2021. A strike by the carrier's own workers, pressing demands against that carrier, is inherent in the normal exercise of its activity: collective bargaining is part of managing a workforce, and a strike is a foreseeable part of collective bargaining that the carrier can plan around. The lawfulness that made the strike orderly also made it predictable.

Where the line actually sits

Bumped after the strike? That is a different rule entirely

Strikes end, and the rescheduling that follows them creates its own claims. In Finnair v Lassooy a 2006 strike by Barcelona airport staff, external, forced a cancellation; Finnair spread passengers across the following days, and Mr Lassooy, holding a confirmed seat on a flight two days later, was bumped to an evening service to make room.

The Court held in October 2012 that this was denied boarding, that denied boarding is not limited to overbooking, and that an extraordinary circumstance attaches to a particular aircraft on a particular day: the strike could not justify refusing a passenger who presented properly two days on. The Art. 4(3) compensation was payable, and denied boarding carries no extraordinary circumstances defence at all.

What the airline must still provide in any strike

The Art. 8 choice of refund or rerouting and the Art. 9 care duties do not depend on the cause. During a strike wait the airline owes meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the delay, two communications, and accommodation with transfers where a night intervenes. McDonagh, decided on the 2010 ash cloud, put a floor under this: the care duty has no temporal or monetary ceiling, and necessary, appropriate and reasonable outlays are recoverable when the airline fails to provide.

On the rerouting side, the TAP standard applies during strike recovery too: the next available seat on the striking airline's own network is not automatically enough when other carriers are flying.

Two worked examples

• Own crew strike: a Manchester to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández flight (1,681 km, 1,500 to 3,500 km band) cancelled at two days notice during a cabin crew dispute. Airhelp v SAS forecloses the defence: £350 per passenger, plus the refund or rerouting choice.
• ATC strike: the same flight held on the ground until arrival is 4 hours late. The strike is external, so compensation is generally excused; the airline still owes meals during the wait and, had the delay reached 5 hours, the refund option. Receipts for what it failed to provide are recoverable.

Does it matter that the strike was announced in advance?

For the airline's own staff, advance notice makes its position worse, not better. The Grand Chamber observed in Airhelp v SAS that a strike preceded by the legal notice period is a foreseeable event the employer can prepare for, and preparation is precisely what the reasonable measures limb tests. Eglītis adds the planning dimension from the other end: schedules must carry a certain reserve so operations can restart once a disruption ends.

For an external strike announced ahead, the same logic works in the passenger's favour on the response: an airline that knew air traffic control would strike on Thursday must show what it did with that knowledge, from retiming to rebooking, before the day arrived. The circumstance may be extraordinary; an unprepared response to an announced circumstance is not a reasonable one.

Strikes somewhere else in the network

Disruption cascades: a morning strike at one airport strands aircraft that were due elsewhere by evening. The Court accepted in WZ v Austrian Airlines that an extraordinary circumstance affecting an earlier rotation of the same aircraft can excuse a later flight, but only where the airline shows a direct causal link, and the reasonable measures test still runs on the whole chain. The further your flight sat from the strike itself, the more planning time the airline had, and the harder that second limb becomes.

How to read an airline's strike rejection letter

The letter must, in substance, answer two questions: whose strike was it, and what did the airline do about it? A letter reciting industrial action beyond our control without naming the strikers has not engaged with Krüsemann or Airhelp v SAS. A letter naming an external strike but silent on rerouting has not met the second limb.

The stated reason can also be tested against the record. The CAA publishes monthly punctuality and cancellation statistics per airline and per route at the UK reporting airports; our data pages carry them with attribution. An airline whose whole month ran normally, save for your flight, has a harder time describing a system-wide event.

Strike questions that come up every time

• Does a strike cancel the notice rules? No. A cancellation in a strike still runs through Art. 5(1)(c): 14 days notice, or the timing margins, or compensation stays live subject to the cause.
• Is a strike by a subcontractor the airline chose internal or external? The test is effective control: Touristic Aviation asks whether the airline could direct the operator or realistically engage another.
• My flight operated but left 4 hours late during a crew strike: the delay rules apply as normal, and Airhelp v SAS removes the defence for the airline's own crew.
• The airline pre-cancelled dozens of flights before the strike day: notice and margins decide those under Art. 5(1)(c); the earlier the notice, the fewer of them carry compensation.
• Does compensation depend on the strike ending? No. The claim accrues with the disruption to your flight, and the limitation clock runs from then.

If you claim, what the process looks like

A strike claim is an ordinary compensation claim with one extra document worth having: anything naming the strike. The demand states the flight, the arrival delay, and asks the airline to identify the specific Art. 5(3) circumstance and the measures it took; the free claim letter tool includes that wording. If the airline relies on its own staff's action, Krüsemann and Airhelp v SAS answer it. If it relies on an external strike, the questions move to the response: which reroutings were considered, on which carriers, and when.

Time limits run as normal during and after strikes: national law sets them (Cuadrench Moré), from 1 to 10 years across the published map, and nothing about a strike pauses the clock.